I was around,
I showed up in 2002 shot Badlands with Cranford, Terry, etc, Then shot some RO stuff when it was Sniper Paradise Still
Thomas was mad I was there, supposed to be him and I in the bunkhouse and he sleep in his trunk, all 6ft 5" or whatever
I remember Glen Carline, The Pine Cone Crew, etc,
But I was around, shot Tac Pro, Badlands, RO and early ASC
Rgr,
You missed Harlengen TX in 01 and what came b4.
I missed seeing you in 2002 bc that was the year Pop died and I had my hands full, couldnt get out there TX, but i heard the Thomas blow up part from him.
He made 02 sound much like 07. It is good he faded and calmer heads prevailed. Thomas needed to go.
You missed Rod Ryan and Storm Mountain 96-97 where he made you carry everything on his list in a 60+ pound ruck, pure military genre' to his service time.
The 10x SuperSniper scope was a big item then with civilians. The 10x leupold ultra was big army, and the ART was still in guard units. And the crayon eaters were unertl 10x. LE was struggling with a 1" tube 3.5-10-40 duplex.
Stuart Meyers was trying to be the king of LE Sniper world, same shit 02 and 07 drama style.
96 was also the International Super Sniper Shootout, in the CZ republic and Raton NM, which was direct competition with Storm Mountain and the king of the hill drama.
John Plaster was the SSS draw. It was military and police competition them, heavily military weighted.
Jacob was quietly running classes in the background then. Run what u brung....
97 was much of the same.
SSS continued in 98, Plaster got fired in 98. Robert Duhon did Whiteright, TX in 98, with Mike Lau building a m40a1 clone for the prize. That came down btw my partner and John Cranford. Its here now.....
Thomas was present at that shoot and I remember that as the first attempt to put on a nationwide series and the arguments. Didnt go anywhere.
Leupold had a 30mm tube 6.5-20 then and the 1" 4.5x14x40 mildot. Mil scopes were the same.
Life continued 1999, SSS moved U.S. to Camp Shelby MS, and brought in Chuck MaWhinney to replace Plaster. Was in Austria overseas. Status quo.
2000, no changes, status quo on equipment and calibers, scopes, and military genre' shooting.
2001, status quo, SSS still had MaWhinney, add Badlands OK, Bobby, with Steve Suttles.
And Harlengen TX, Snipersparadise Thomas and Jacob. And there was controversy then. NXS was present. Equipment was improving. Jacob was burning out 338 Lapua barrels.
Then Snipersparadise went to Tac Pro in Stephenville. Thomas got worse. Thought I would see a fight.
And that gets us into 2002, where Rifles Only was the place to be.
Rob01, Terry Cross, and a few others here could talk about equipment. Dont need to hear from Cranford and Anthony about Horus, but, they did very well with it. Won a lot of firsts with Horus and 308.
Memory begins to fail, nap time approaches for us old ppl.